A Copper Flame
by Elfaer Giliell
Summary: Revised: Representatives from Rivendale and Qualith have come to Mirkwood for political reasons. Darkness lurks within the forest and danger hides around every turn. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"How much farther?" came an irritated, but beautiful voice. Elsul sat astride her stallion glancing around at the dark forest that surrounded her and the rest of the political leaders from Lorien and Qualith. Her long copper hair streamed down her back, its luster unseen in the darkness.

"Maybe a day or two. Elsul have patience we will be there soon enough," answered Galadriel.

"Easy enough for you to say." Despite how much Elsul loved to ride, the terrain was ever the same and becoming quite boring. Her mount, Sul, snorted and pranced sideways. He was a silver stallion, one of the last of the Celebel Rochs. Sul was becoming more and more difficult to manage, but that was because of the slow pace. He had been breed to run, to race the wind, not plod along like some plow horse.. "So Lord Elrond and the twins are there, right?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?" asked Galadriel with a raised brow.

"Oh, nothing," she gave Sul a slight command and trotted toward the front of the column.

"Dear you know there is no way to keep her out of trouble," said Celeborn.

It was Sul who noticed the _thing_ first. A large something had scuttled across the path just a little ways in front of the advancing column. "Spiders," hissed Haldir, "ready your weapons! There are spiders ahead of us."

A smile found its way onto Elsul's face. She took her bow in hand and quickly knocked an arrow. A second later the silvery arrow found its mark and the large spider dropped from its perch and found its final resting place on the forest floor. She loosed three more, all of them finding their prey. In all, ten spiders lay upon the ground, either dead or dieing.

Elsul had found all of her arrows, only one was broken. "That was fun, fast, but fun," she said.

"I see why you and the twins get along so well," laughed Haldir. She just scowled at him and drifted towards the back of the party.

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At the end of the second day an escort of five Mirkwood elves meet them and escorted them to the palace. After handing off their mounts, they made their way inside. Elsul was greeted two boys, each a mirror image of the other. "Hey there's father hide," whispered Elladan as Elrond walked by.

"Its been so long," whispered Elsul, "I'm glad you're here, it would be far too boring otherwise."

"Your right," answered Elrohir in a proud voice. "I'm sure you can find out who King Thranduil and Queen Colseregon are. They have five children. The youngest is Celeborn . She unlike her brothers and sisters has silver hair, so she'll be the easiest to recognize. The second youngest is Aurdu, he has silvery gold hair like the day and night combined. The third youngest is Legolas and he is about are age with gold hair, and an extremely stuck up attitude. The second oldest is Elugwilwileth and she isn't here right now. I haven't found out why she isn't here…yet. The crown prince is Malthendulin and he is away with Elugwilwileth in Gondor. I'm not sure why they would want to be in Gondor…"

"Wow, you sure overheard a lot. Who did you spy on?" asked Elsul sarcastically.

* * *

So I decided to revise this story. I know the chapter is still super short, but oh well. The next one will be up soon and hopefully it will be longer… 

Tell me what you think. I'll give you a cookie!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning Elsul woke long before the rays of the sun touched the earth. She She dressed quickly and slipped into Elladan's room. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a harmless green snake and slid it under Elladan's cover. With one glance back she slipped out the door again. Staying in the shadows, so she would not be seen by the few guards, she then went into Elrohir's room and set a frog in his bed. She snickered as she returned to her room.

Only a few minutes had passed before she heard Elladan's roar of rage. At the same time she heard Elrohir doing exactly the same thing. Elsul laid back on her bed and listened to the voices in the hall. 'I better get going before the twins find me here,' she thought. "Oh well, I'm hungry anyway."

Elsul swiftly got up and, making sure to stay in the shadows, made her way to the Dinning Hall. She had to stop a few times, for other elves always seemed to be in her path when there were no shadows to hide in. One time she stopped and overheard two others elves speaking in hushed voices in a corridor that seemed to be rarely used. "Stupid Lorien elves are going to ruin are plans," whined one of the elves.

"Keep your voice down, Agarech," snapped the other elf.

"But, Naith, how are we going to kill the king and his brats?" asked the one called Agarech.

Elsul didn't stay to hear what else they were going to say, she had to find the twins and quickly. Forgetting about her hunger went of in search of Elladan and Elrohir. 'Oh you can never find them when you want to,' she thought to herself. After twenty minutes she ran into them, literally. "Finally I've been looking all over for you," she whispered totally forgetting about that morning.

"Why you have another snake," jested Elladan.

"Oh… I totally forgot about that. No I don't."

"Really nothing else?" asked Elrohir.

"No, but I overheard two elves talking."

"Wow that's a big deal," joked Elladen.

"They were talking about," she went on pretending he had never said anything, "assassinating royal family." The twins stared at her shocked.

"What...?" Elrohir croaked. "An assassination attempt."

"Who were they?" questioned Elladen.

"There names were Agarech and Naith," whispered Elsul as she looked around.

"Hmm, why would someone be crazy enough to name their children BloodSpear and Spearhead?" asked Elrohir.

"How should we know?" snapped Elladen. "We are supposed to be talking about what we're going to do."

"No one from Lorien, Rivendale, or Qualith will ever believe us," said Elsul.

"What about the Mirkwood elves?" asked Elrohir.

"Do you really think they would believe us? Come on," whispered Elsul as some elves walked by. "They are only putting on a show, hoping to have all of us gone as soon as possible."

"So what are we supposed to do? Stop them ourselves?" growled Elrohir.

"Exactly. We have to stop them," stated Elsul. "But right now we should get into the dinning hall before someone starts to look for us. After breakfast we will meet in my chambers."

"Fine," said the twins.

Directly after breakfast they all found themselves seated on the floor next to Elsul's bed. "Okay now what?" asked Elrohir. "Are we supposed to trap them in a bottomless pit?"

"No. We have to find how close they are to the king. In other words, we need to know their standing. We should all take turns following them, too," explained Elsul.

"Following them will be easy," the twins gave each other mischievous looks. "We'll go first. What about their standings?" questioned Elrohir.

"We can say we know someone who knows someone here and would like to know what they're doing," answered Elladen.

"Yeah that would be such a subtle question. Since my people don't really have ties here I can ask around and pretend that I am trying to learn who everyone is," stated Elsul.

"I guess, but have you noticed none of the royal family ever talks to us?" asked Elrohir.

"True, though Legolas does throw us strange looks every now and then," agreed Elladen.

"He does and what about his sister. There's hatred and jealousy in her looks when she looks at you, Elsul. Not that any of the royal family is really _kind_ to any of us," Elrohir sneered.

"Of course she's jealous of you," answered Elladen, "everyone knows Elrohir likes you." He ducked narrowly missing being smacked on the head by his brother.

Elrohir then stalked out of the room. Elladan gave her a quick smile, "He didn't deny it." With a wink he followed after his brother.

Elsul grabbed her bow, quiver, and sword. With her quiver and bow on her back and her sword safely strapped to her belt, she slipped out of the palace. She went to the stables and mounted her stallion. After a few hours of riding, she started back only to find herself face to face with Legolas.

What are you doing out here?" he demanded.


End file.
